If you've ever peeked inside a middle schooler's backpack, you know how valuable a lesson on organization can be. Help class members organize their binders, study habits, and schedules with a set of collaborative activities.

Hold a discussion in writing about coping strategies to prepare your pupils for reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman. After journaling, pupils come up in an organized fashion and write...

After reading up to page 371 of Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, get insight into how Percy felt making a major decision through active discussion strategies that enable both academic...

Not only do extracurricular activities look good on a college application, they can foster important life skills. From sports to volunteering to employment, extracurricular activities can inform your learners' experiences...

Extend the exhilarating learning experience of Dr. Seuss with five activities designed to reinforce literacy skills—site word reading, dialogue writing, story mapping, and more! Featured stories include The Lorax,...

Have you ever been so excited to talk that you interrupted another person? Help young conversationalists wait their turn to speak with a social skills activity. 

An eye-catching hook makes a smart analogy between ingredients for a food recipe and ingredients for quality relationships. Scholars discuss and list qualities they feel contribute to positive interactions. Pupils create a recipe card...

Young readers take part in a meaningful discussion following a reading of Aesop's fable "The Fox and the Stork." Five questions focus on the characters' actions and offering apologies. 

With the speed and easy access of online communication today, young learners often do not consider the full implications of their speech. Remind them to THINK (is it true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind) before using...

Scholars watch a video and meet a scientist who is studying sharks as she explains her observations about the sharks and provides her hypothesis to explain their behavior. Learners then act like a scientist as they watch an aquarium...

Rock out with a song, video, and quiz about the rock cycle. Learn how it is similar to recycling, the different kinds of rocks, and how they form. There is a karaoke feature that allows learners to sing along, helping to cement the...

Explore the influence social activism can have on important issues, and create a class full of young citizen activists. This plan calls for learners to participate in a whole class discussion and brainstorm about ways to effectively...

In this recognizing meanings of phrases worksheet, students use context clues and the word bank to complete conversation sentences. Students fill in 6 blanks.

In this comprehension skills worksheet, students read the book Big Bushy Mustache and complete comprehension activities. Students complete 5 activities including note taking, making inferences, fiction and non fiction, drawing...

Upper graders compare their cell phones to a lacquer box from the Japanese Edo Period. They consider how each is a form of communication and how the very nature of each object communicates social norms, ideology, and beliefs. A...

Energy conservation is a hot topic these days; introduce your kids to the Smart Grid solution through a video clip and several interactive online tools. They discuss areas of household energy consumption, examining a pie chart...

Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate  the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of...

Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...

"Without concerned citizen action to uphold them (human rights) close to home; we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. . ." Eleanor Roosevelt's comment is used to set the stage for the conclusion of a five-lesson unit...

One must first learn how to analyze art before they can properly respond to it. Here, young analysts examine six abstract pieces in a systematic and formal way. They then respond to one of the pieces in either a poem or an essay. An...

Sherlock Holmes had fantastic skills of observation. Your super sleuths will examine the pattern, rhythm, texture, and color of a painting to uncover the symbolism beneath. A great lesson, that incorporates observation, art...

Parades, ceremonies, and rituals are common to most traditional cultures. Kids analyze a carved piece entitled, Death Cart to understand the significance of these events. They then create floats, carts, and costumes for a class parade...

After discussing the artistic elements and design process needed to construct the modern sculpture, Lao Tzu, kids get logical. They consider the purposeful use of space in the sculpture, design a modern piece for a specific space at...

Older learners analyze a controversial painting entitled The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony 1832. They use the issues raised in the image to construct debate arguments questioning if the artist's painting exploits Native...